


love won, love lost

by maelerie



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Divorce, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 13:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5418818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maelerie/pseuds/maelerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Married life was bliss, until it wasn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	love won, love lost

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt ['Going through a divorce (AU)'] I received on Tumblr.

They had been so in love.

The year they met, he did not dare talk to her or even stand close to her. He watched her from a distance, hoping that one day he would control his stutter and his easily-blushing-cheeks, his wobbling knees and the pounding of his heart in his ears, so that he could finally say hello to her when she said hello to him.

It took him another year to find his courage and throw a quick _'ciao'_ in her direction. At first she had been silent, but the smile that spread across her features seconds later was all the encouragement he needed.

The third year they shared their first kiss. The snow made crunching noises under their boots as he had walked her to the door of her apartment, but the only sound his heart made from the moment her soft lips touched his own was _Annabelle, Annabelle, Annabelle._

In their fourth year, they shared even more than simple kisses. Fumbling with buttons and zippers, with sloppy kisses and sweat-covered flesh, they bound their hearts and limbs together, and he could not bear to spend another day without her.

The following year he offered her a ring and a promise, and she took it with a nod and tears tracing down her smiling cheeks. She was beautiful, no, _ethereal_ , in white and he was more than handsome in his black suit and Italian shoes. _Look at them_ , their friends and family whispered. _They were made for each other._

There were four more years where the bliss of married life settled into their house like a silk-spun blanket.

But the blanket had started to rip.

"You cannot just shove a paper in my face and expect me to agree with this, dammit!"

Annabelle did not meet his eyes. "It's over Romano. We have been tiptoeing around each other for too long, postponing the inevitable. I cannot do this anymore."

"No," Romano shook his head violently, unconsciously crumbling the divorce papers in his hand as his desperation grew. "It's over when both parties agree it is over and not before!"

"We went over this a thousand times, Romano," Annabelle sighed, swallowing down the tears she knew were coming, "it _is_ over. You just haven't accepted it yet."

"When?!" he demanded, "when did we agree we would give up on this, on _us_?!"

Annabelle finally met his scowl. "We're tearing ourselves apart Romano. We're tearing ourselves apart trying to make this marriage work. And it _did_ work for a while, but not anymore. _I_ know it and _you_ know it, and no matter how hard we'd scream or cry, it's not something that can be fixed by a simple flick of the finger."

He did not know what to say to that, because deep down, he knew she was right. He knew it. They were too much alike and it was choking them. He knew, he knew, he knew. And yet he did not want to see it, did not want to hear it. He had told himself that this was forever, and damn it if he would throw it away so easily.

"Sign the papers and send them to the return address by tomorrow," Annabelle said, turning on her heel. "I'm going to stay with my brother and when the divorce is through I'll come to collect my things."

Romano knew she was making a quick escape. He knew she was stabbing herself with these words as much as she was stabbing him, and she did not want to show it. Fearing she would change her mind and having to go through this all over again.

Before she could run out the front door, he grabbed her wrist and spun her around. "Please," he sounded hoarse. "Please, _Bella, tesoro,_ don't do this. I... I cannot lose you. I... I..." she was pulling away, her eyes shining with tears, and he became desperate. "Ah, fuck it, _Bella_ , I love you goddammit! I love you!"

She was crying now. Big, salty tears rolled down her face and dropped to the floor. Her body shook with grief and her voice was barely above a whisper. "Oh Romano, I... I love you too... So, _so_ much..."

"Then stay," he said, "Please..."

She looked up at him with sad eyes, wiping a solitary tear from his cheek that he had not noticed himself. "I can't, Romano," she said. "I wish I could. I... I really, truly wish that," she tilted her head and kissed him on the lips one last time, "but I can't. Not anymore."

And as she walked out the door, he broke. Violent sobs escaped him as he crumpled to the ground, the divorce papers clutched tightly in his fist. And he cried and cried, until he had no more tears left, until his throat was raw and his eyes were swollen 

It had been the hardest thing to do in his life, to sign those papers, and he would blame himself for years to come. Torture himself with images of what went wrong, and what he could have done to prevent them. 

As Jan came to collect the last box with his sister's valuables, he realised fully, for the first time that day, that he had lost her, and he would never forgive himself for that.


End file.
